Kimberly Kong
Piano
A twenty-four-year-old Korean-American pianist, Kimberly Kong, has already established herself as one of the most promising young artists in her generation. At the age of nine, Kong attracted public attention with her successful debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Edward Cumming performing the Haydn Piano Concerto in D major at Heinz Hall. Since then, she has appeared frequently as a soloist with the orchestra under the baton of Marvin Hamlish. Kong’s other solo appearances include recitals at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, PNC Hall at Duquesne University, Puccini Theatre in Italy. In 2005, she made her debut with the National Symphony Orchestra performing the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor at the Kennedy Center.
Kong’s numerous successes in piano competitions include grand prize at the 1998 Cincinnati World Competition, first prize at the 2003 Helen Clay Frick Scholarship Competition, first prize at the 2002 Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition, first Prize at the National Symphony Orchestra Young Soloists Competition, second prize at the 20th Bartok-Prokofiev-Kabelevsky Competition, and second prize at the 2006 Music Teachers National Association Piano Competition. She was also the winner of the 2007 Koscuiszko Chopin Piano Competition in New York City and the Grand Prize winner of Margaret A. Guthman Keyboard Competition. Most recently, Kong was selected to compete at the esteemed New Orleans International Piano Competition as one of the twelve semi-finalists.
Kong, a native of Pittsburgh, previously attended the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University where she received a Bachelor of Music degree, with a merit scholarship, studying with Yong Hi Moon. Recently, she received her Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School studying with Julian Martin. Kong also served as a piano minor instructor at Juilliard, teaching secondary piano to instrumentalists. Currently, she is pursuing her Doctoral degree at the Peabody Institute studying with Yong Hi Moon and serves as piano faculty at the Peabody Preparatory.
